This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 3-109410 filed on May 14, 1991 and No. 3-59094 filed on Mar. 22, 1991 which are incorporated herein by references.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solder-bonded structure which is formed on a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ability for hybrid ICs (integrated circuit) to withstand extreme environmental conditions has recently been demanded. In particular, hybrid ICs for vehicles are required to have excellent durability when exposed to various temperatures. Especially, the durability of the hybrid ICs when they are repeatedly exposed to low temperature and high temperature, i.e., the durability to a so-called heat cycle is considered most important.
Generally, conventional hybrid ICs for vehicles or the like are fabricated as follows. As shown in FIG. 11, a patterned screen mask (not shown) is attached on a hybrid IC substrate 22 of alumina (hereafter simply referred to as "substrate"). Screen printing is then performed on the substrate 22. A conductor paste is coated on the substrate 22 in the form of a circuit pattern. The pasted substrate is then sintered, thereby forming a conductor 23 on the substrate 22. The elements of the conductor 23 are included in the paste.
The conductor 23 is Generally made of silver alone or in combination with platinum [Ag/Pt =99.0 to 99.3/1.0 to 0.7 (weight ratio)]. When the conductor 23 is formed through the sintering process, a connection layer 25 shown in FIG. 11 is formed between the substrate 22 and the conductor 23. The connection layer 25 mainly consists of composite aluminum oxide, which has bismuth and copper in the paste incorporated therein.
Soldering cream is coated at a predetermined position on the conductor 23, and electronic parts 27 are arranged on the soldering cream. Then, a so-called reflow process is carried out for the substrate 22 provided with the electronic parts 27. In the fellow process, the soldering cream is melted and then cooled and solidified, providing a solder layer 24. At this time, the solder layer 24 is bonded with the electronic parts 27.
The solder layer 24 Generally contains silver, tin and lead [Ag/Sn/Pb =2/62/36 (weight ratio)]. During the reflow process, a silver-tin alloy layer (intermetallic compound) 26 is formed between the conductor 23 and the solder layer 24. It assumes that silver contained in the conductor 23 and tin in the solder layer 24 are mutually diffused to provide the intermetallic compound 26.
Heat cycle tests conducted on the above-described hybrid IC showed that the greater the number of heat cycles is, the more significant the reduction in peel strength of the electronic parts 27 from the substrate 22 becomes. When the electronic parts 27 were detached from the substrate 22 after such cycling, it was observed that peeling had occurred between the substrate 22 and the connection layer 25 in most cases.